Dor
by Ichabod Ebenezer
Summary: Nth Doctor part 2 of 12. Follows "A Heist for Pandora". Children are going comatose in one quiet neighborhood, and the Doctor is the only one to take the Monster in the Closet seriously. Can he stop the monster, and can he put the children right again?
1. The Monster in the Closet

"Which is why," the man said to his son, one hand on the boy's forehead and the other holding the book out at arms length, "all the animals in the Forest- except, of course, the Spotted and Herbaceous Backson - now know what Christopher Robin does in the mornings."

He took his hand off his son's forehead and turned the page. He smiled and closed the book with a snap. "Tomorrow we get to see what new game Pooh invents."

"Is it Pooh Sticks?" the boy asked.

The father's smile widened and he said, "You've read this before, haven't you?" He knew very well that either he or his wife had read it to their son at least monthly for the past two years. He set the book down on the bedside table and found the switch on the side of his lamp. He leaned down and kissed his son's forehead. "Goodnight, Sammy" he said gently and switched off the light. He walked to the door, turned and took one look back before leaving the door slightly ajar so the hall light could be seen.

* * *

An hour or so later, Sammy woke up, unexpectedly scared. He felt as if he had had a nightmare, but he couldn't remember one. He tried to go back to sleep, but his heart was pounding and his breathing was heavy. As much as he tried, he couldn't calm down. He felt like screaming, but he knew his father would be disappointed if he did. He told himself it was stupid, but he pulled the covers over his face anyway.

Suddenly, he heard the closet door creak open. He sat bolt upright. There was a bright light coming from his closet, and the door was wide open. A clawed hand came out and dug into his wood floor. When a second extended through the opening and latched onto the door frame, he screamed.

The creature coming out of his closet chuckled, a deep, throaty, evil laugh. The boy saw its face. It had glowing red eyes and sharp features with horns atop its head, and tusks protruding from the corner of its mouth. It looked the boy in the eyes and said, "Boo."

The child screamed again and ducked back under the covers. He heard the scraping sounds of its clawed hands approaching the bed. The boy scrunched his eyes tight and yelled, "Dad!"

Even through his eyelids, the boy could see a glow start up and intensify. He opened his eyes and saw that the glow was coming from his own chest. A small golden orb appeared from his chest and the boy screamed again. The orb floated out through the blanket and disappeared. The room went dark again, and Sammy heard his closet door slam.

The boy's father burst into the room. "What's the matter? What's going on?" The boy sat up and pulled the covers away from his face. His father was standing there in his underwear with his shirt hastily put on inside out and backwards.

"My closet! Dad, there was a monster!" the boy yelled, pointing.

His dad sighed sleepily. "Well, it appears to be gone now," he said, crossing the room. He opened the closet door and looked inside. He pushed the hanging clothes aside and looked past them. He knocked on the back wall. "See, no monster here." He looked back at his son, smiling a reassuring smile. His smile quickly faded.

The boy was still sitting up in his bed, still pointing at the closet, but his eyes had gone blank, and his jaw had dropped open. "Sammy?" his father said quietly. The boy didn't so much as blink. "Sammy?" he repeated, even quieter.

* * *

"Kom hit," Pandora called, and Obelix immediately forgot about the rat he was searching for and splashed over to her side as she walked along the winding passages of underground London. "He should be somewhere up ahead..." she said to herself.

As she passed one of the dim flourescent lights, she tapped on it, trying to make it brighten up a bit. "Luktar du honom?" she asked the dog. The dog just looked back at her, raising his ears slightly. "Not one of the commands you know then, huh?"

Ahead of her, on the left, there was a dark alcove to the side of the tunnel that briefly lit up with a strobe of bright light accompanied by the sound of electricity arcing. She patted Obelix's head and said, "This must be the place."

Just before they got close enough to see inside, they heard the loud sound of something heavy and metal bouncing off of concrete. "Blast it to Hyneman!", someone said. It was the Doctor's voice. They came around the corner to see him get off a three-legged stool and retrieve a vice from under a workbench.

"I was going to ask if we'd come at a bad time, but now I've got to ask, ' _Blast it to Hyneman_ '?", Pandora said, announcing her presence. She set her box down on his workbench.

The Doctor turned to look at her. He was wearing his customary cargo pants, running shoes and t-shirt, but over that he was wearing an apron that said 'Kiss the Cook' across the front, along with welding gloves and goggles. "Ah, Pandora. What? Oh, that, yes," he said. He set the vice down on top of the workbench then flipped the front of the goggles up on a hinge.

He turned back to Pandora and said, "I've always admired people that could swear. I've just never liked the words much. They're so crass, vulgar. But the idea itself is very creative, and let's face it, sometimes you need an outlet during painful or frustrating moments. So I'm trying it out. Only I'm using the names of program hosts off tele. How do you like it?"

Pandora laughed. "Good on you, mate. Can't wait to hear what else you've got. What are you up to?" she asked, climbing onto his stool. She picked up a c-clamp and tightened it to the base of the vice. In the teeth of the vice was a small aluminium pipe about 6 centimeters long with a bundle of copper wiring sticking out the end, and some sort of mechanical frame around that.

"Bit of welding," he said. "I'm working on a new sonic screwdriver."

"For me? I could really use that trick you do with the cash points," Pandora said.

"No, I'm making myself a new one."

"What do you need another one for?"

The Doctor hesitated, and took off his gloves to cover the fact. "That one belonged to... him." He set the gloves down on the stool then banged hard on the handle of the vice, spun it a half-turn and removed the cylinder from it. On the underside of it, Pandora could see a small ring on a lever. The Doctor slipped his index finger through the ring as he held it up. "Besides," he said, "when I'm done with it, this one will have a setting for wood. I've been meaning to get around to that for a while, and now I've got the spare time." He pulled back on the ring, and four points surrounding the tip of the sonic moved forward, emitting four lasers that met at a point about 2 centimeters from the tip. He let go and the mechanism returned to its starting position, shutting off the beams.

"So this is what you've been doing for fun? This is how you've been spending your holiday? Holed up in the tunnels, welding and that?" Pandora asked.

"Not only. I've had a full few days. You know, getting to some of those things I've always meant to do. Teach myself a new instrument... Learn a few dead languages..."

"What, like Aramaic or Aztec or something?"

"Sure, like that, but I'm concentrating on English just now. Funny, I've spent so much time in this country and I've never bothered to learn the language." He picked up a pocket guide from the workbench to show her. It read 'Dictionnaire Francais-Anglais'.

"But, you know English, you're speaking it now," Pandora said, confused.

"Ah, no. The Tardis translation circuits automatically translate for me. It actually takes some effort to hear you in your native tongue. I can only pick out one word in ten really." He waved the book, then set it down. "Still working on it. The pronunciation rules are mind-boggling."

Something else struck her just then. "Hey! What do you mean, 'dead language'?"

"Oh, um, not yet of course. But nobody speaks it anymore in the 34th century. You've got some time left," he said sheepishly. "Still, wouldn't hurt to learn some Mandarin. Anyway, change of subject. What brings you my way?"

"Right. I need to bring Obelix up to the surface so he can do his thing, I thought I'd swing by and see if you fancied a walk."

"Yeah, I could take a break." He took off his apron and hung it up on a hat stand in the corner. His t-shirt underneath had no picture, but simply read, "The world needs more women like you." He retrieved his hoodie from another hook and threw it on. He stood in front of the workbench for a moment, looking at his unfinished screwdriver, then reluctantly picked up his old one and dropped it into an inside pocket. "Let's go," he said, and walked out of the alcove.

"Hey, aren't you afraid someone will stumble on your little workshop here?" Pandora asked, stepping out and looking back. Obelix was padding about the room, sniffing at the acetylene tank, then an old toolbox, then at the Doctor's apron.

"Oh, um, no. I've got a perception filter set up. I've programmed your brain wave patterns into it as an exception. If you want to see what anyone else would see..." The Doctor suddenly smacked her in the back of the head.

"Hey! Ow!" she yelled, holding the back of her head. "What the hell was that for?"

"I just jostled your brain waves a bit. Look again. Look for the alcove. Quickly, before you reset."

Pandora looked around, but they were just in a bare corridor like any other down here. The room was completely gone - she couldn't even remember for sure where it was. Suddenly she worried where Obelix was. "Obelix, kom!" she commanded. She watched as the dog padded out, passing straight through the brickwork of the corridor wall before happily coming to sit at her side. Then the bricks slowly faded away, and the room was back where it was.

* * *

They took a lift to the surface and began walking toward the park, Obelix loping ahead to investigate every car tire and lamppost along the way.

"Evening already. The time does fly," the Doctor commented.

"It's a hot one though," Pandora responded.

"Well, climate change. What'cha gonna do?" They passed through a residential area of identical houses along the way, when they heard yelling coming from an upstairs window nearby. "No! Oh, not you too! Johnny! Snap out of it!" They saw the sillouette of a man come to the window. He was quickly dialling a phone, then he called out loudly, panicking, "Is there a doctor about?"

"Doctor?" Pandora said quietly. "Maybe we should...?"

"No..." the Doctor said gazing up at the window as the sillouette disappeared. They could still hear the man speaking loudly. "It sounds like he's got 999 on the line. They should be able to sort out whatever it is." He turned away and began walking again. "I'm on vacation."

Pandora stood where she was, watching the Doctor walk away, unbelieving. The voice called out again, "Oh, my poor little boy! Johnny, why you?"

The Doctor stopped. When he turned around there was a complete change to his demeanor. He walked with swift, but reluctant determination to the door below the window where they had seen the man. He pulled out his sonic and pointed it at the door lock. "Are you coming or not?" he asked, looking back at Pandora. The sonic lit up and buzzed. The Doctor pushed open the door and went inside.

Pandora shook her head, then ran after him. "Kom!" she yelled. Obelix whined. He hadn't yet gotten to releave himself, but when she disappeared inside, he padded in through the open door and followed his mistress up the stairs.

The Doctor pushed open the door to the room facing the street. The room was done up with posters of the milky way and the crab nebula. A mobile of the solar system hung in one corner, and there was a Galeleoscope on a desk next to the window. The bed had an image of BB8 from Star Wars on it. There was a man sitting on the bed, rocking a young boy and crying. He looked up when the Doctor entered, but didn't change his position or expression.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said. "This is Pandora," he added as she entered, "and... um, Obelix. This must be Johnny. You called for me?" He approached the bed and waved his sonic over the boy.

"Oh, Doctor. It's just like the kids next block over. He was yelling in his sleep, but when I got here, he was just like this." He unwrapped his arms, and the Doctor could see better what 'this' was like.

The boy was sitting straight up of his own power, but he was looking, unblinkingly at the doorway. His face was in a neutral expression, not frozen in fear, but unresponsive.

The Doctor knelt at the side of the bed and cupped Johnny's head. He shone the sonic's beam in Johnny's eyes, left, then right, then down. He held up the sonic and contemplated it, then scowled. He tucked the sonic into an inside pocket of his hoodie and pressed his lips against the boy's forehead.

"Doctor!" the boy's father exclaimed.

The Doctor pulled away and stood thinking. "Heart rate's normal, temperature normal, pupil response normal. Skin conductivity's high, consistant with a recent fright." He licked the salt from his lips. "A very bad one, I'd say."

He lifted the boy's hand and let it drop. It fell to the bed normally. Then the Doctor grabbed the crown of the boy's head and twisted. Johnny's hair moved, but his head stayed rigidly pointed at the door, his neck refusing to move. "Very odd," the Doctor muttered. He put his index finger on Johnny's chest and pushed. Johnny tilted backward and returned to his stock upright position.

"It's the same, isn't it? He's got what they got, hasn't he?"

The Doctor stood silent, studying Johnny intently, so Pandora spoke up. "What who's got? What happened on the next block over?"

"You haven't heard?" the man asked. For the first time, he took a good look at them. Pandora was wearing patched up jeans with a midriff baring tee, a jacket with faux-fur trim and gloves with the fingers cut off. "What sort of doctors are you again? Out for a walk with your dog, I'm not expecting scrubs, I'm just happy to have you, but..." He looked Pandora up and down. Then another question occurred to him. "How old are you?"

The Doctor snapped out of his thoughts. "We're the sort of doctors with just the kind of expertise you need. Paramedics will be here soon, and they'll do all sorts of comforting stuff. But until then, could you answer Pandora's very good question?"

"But you must have heard. Children next block over've been going comotose since a week ago. One a night. But I don't get it. It skipped over so many houses now, and my boy don't even play with them."

"It was hitting every house until now?" the Doctor clarified.

"Well, not every house. Same house the first two nights, then the neighbors, then it skipped one, but they didn't have kids. The one next door got it. Then the next night it was some kid a few doors down-"

"How many doors down, exactly?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know, exactly. A few."

"Thank you sir," the Doctor said, shaking the man's hand. "I may have more questions later. Paramedics will be here shortly. I don't think it's a good idea to try to straighten him, okay? Let them know. Come on Pandora."

The Doctor turned and walked to the doorway. Pandora wasn't sure what to do. She felt like she should say something, but she was a stranger to situations like this. Obelix padded over to sit next to Johnny. Even sitting, the mastiff was level with the boy's face. He whined quietly and looked back at Pandora. She called out "Kom" but not forcefully.

"No," the Doctor said, taking Pandora's arm. "Let's see what he does. This could be a good thing."

Obelix turned back toward Johnny and sniffed at his face, then he licked him several times, getting slobber all over the boy's lower face. There was absolutely no response from Johnny.

"Fascinating," said the Doctor under his breath. "Which direction were the other victims then?" he said, pointing in one direction then sweeping his arm around until the boy's father pointed. The Doctor gave a double-thumbs-up, then he turned and left the room. "Kom!" he yelled.

The dog got up and hurried out the door and down the stairs after the Doctor. Pandora stood there nervously for a moment, looking at Johnny's father. He was looking at his son and threatening to start crying again. "Paramedics will be here soon," Pandora finally said and followed Obelix.

* * *

"Hello!" the Doctor said cheerfully when the woman came to the door. "Good evening to you, I hope we didn't wake you." Her face was blank, but damp from tears. The Doctor decided not to mention it. "I'm the Doctor and this is Pandora." He looked down at Obelix. "Don't worry, the dog will stay outside - though, if you've got a patch of grass, he would be much appreciative. No? That's okay, I didn't think so. Are your children in?"

"No, they're at hospital. "Who the hell are you?" the woman said, off-put.

"I'm the Doctor. I should have mentioned. Pretty sure I did." He pulled out his psychic paper and flashed it at her briefly before returning it to his pocket. "Could I maybe see their room? Just a routine follow up."

"Leslie? Who is it?" called a man's voice.

"It's a doctor," Leslie yelled over her shoulder. A man stepped into a doorway down the hall, dressed in a nightgown. "He's asking about Sammy and Linny."

"I'll get some tea on," the man grumbled and shuffled across the hallway to disappear through another doorway.

The Doctor pushed past Leslie. "Just black for me," he called. "Squeeze of lemon would be lovely." He turned back to Leslie. "The kids' room?"

"Which one? Linda is old enough she has her own room," Leslie said and turned on the stairway light.

"Both, actually. Which one was first?"

"That would be Sammy," she said. Tears flowed freely down her face though she made no sound of crying. It happened automatically, and she made no move to wipe them away. She turned and went up the stairs, and the Doctor followed.

She flipped on a light and stepped out of the way, so the Doctor could walk into Sammy's room. The Doctor looked around, noting the dinosaur motif. The room was otherwise exactly the same as Johnny's, windows in the same place, closet door in the same location. Obviously based on the same architectural plan.

The Doctor pulled his sonic from the inside pocket and waved it around the room. He pointed it at the light hanging overhead and idly pushed the attached fan around. He swept it slowly over the bed, paying particular attention to the pillows. Leslie looked on numbly.

"Tell me about that night," the Doctor said, moving the sonic over the bedside table and lamp.

"You should ask Phillip. He got up when Sammy called out. He says Sammy was saying something about a monster in his closet. Then he was just, you know. Frozen." She wiped at her face, doing little but reddening it.

"And was there?" the Doctor called over his shoulder, moving over to examine the closet door. There was a poster on the door of a tyranosaur rearing back and roaring amidst fossilized bones and with a large banner draped across his snout.

"Was there what?" Leslie asked, confused.

"Was there a monster?" the Doctor asked. He shut off his sonic and turned toward Leslie, waiting for an answer. To all apearances, he was serious.

"Of course not! What kind of stupid question is that?"

The Doctor nodded, then opened the closet door and swept the inside with his sonic. "Did you find the closet like this?"

"Look, I don't know what kind of mad-man you are, but the closet isn't important! What's happened to my children?"

The Doctor turned off his sonic and shut the closet door. He turned to her sympathetically. "That's what I'm trying to figure out," he said quietly.

Pandora gave a little knock at the door. "Um, there's tea."

The Doctor led the way back down the stairs to the kitchen. A single shaded bulb hung over a formica table from a rope embedded in the ceiling. Dishes filled the sink. Sam and Linda's father stood indicating a serving tray by the edge of the circular table. On it was a china teapot with a floral pattern and the strings from several tea bags hanging out from under the lid. Surrounding it were a hodge podge of drinking vessles; a tea cup with matching pattern, a mug with a logo for Victoria B.C., a tumbler and a beer stein. There was a saucer with four lemon wedges on it. By way of apology, he tightened the belt on his dressing gown and muttered, "If you don't like it so strong, I've got hot water in the kettle." He indicated an electric kettle on the counter next to the drying rack, also heaped with dishes.

"This'll be lovely," the Doctor said. He took the tumbler and poured it half full with dark brown Twinnings. He picked up a lemon wedge and gave it a small squirt. He looked around for somewhere to put the used lemon, then just popped it in his mouth and started chewing. He moved the tumbler in small circles to stir it. "You're the one who found Sammy comatose?" the Doctor asked, taking a small sip of his tea.

"No."

"No?" the Doctor asked, confused. He set down his tea and picked up a dishtowel. He pushed up his sleeves and turned on the hot water. Leslie's eyes flickered and her mouth opened as if she was going to say something, but then her shoulders just slumped.

"Well, yeah, I found him, but he wasn't like that when I got there. He was terrified. He'd had some dream about a monster in his closet, but he was fine. I turned my back for one moment-" he said, voice cracking. He sniffed and hardened his face and his voice, "and he was gone. Stiff as a board and just empty behind the eyes." He drifted off for a moment. The Doctor cleared off the drying rack and started adding clean dishes to it.

Pandora poured the father a mug of tea and placed it in his hands. His eyes found hers, and he nodded his thanks, then went on. "That whole night and the next day was all sirens and doctors and nobody knowing anything. I never dreamed the same thing would happen to my Linny the next night. I don't think I got more than a few minutes sleep that night, but I never heard her scream like Sammy did."

The wife picked up the story at this point. "They all said we should try to be as normal as possible. Just go about our life like usual, so I got Linny up for school. She had her covers pulled up over her face and she wasn't answering my calls. I actually thought, 'At least one of us was getting some sleep', but she was like Sammy. Just frozen there, eyes open."

The husband put a hand on her shoulder. "They've taken so much blood. Stuck them both in those magnetic tubes. Run every test devised. Hasn't done one sodding bit of good. Kids keep going odd."

"The same thing happened to the neighbor kid?" the Doctor asked over his shoulder, elbow deep in suds.

"Yeah, one of 'em. So far Shelly's okay." There was definite jealousy in his voice. "The Foster's boy fell ill the night after that. Blamed me, he did. Scared the hell out of the Kellermans too, figured they was next. But it skipped their house. It got little Amy Porter instead. Skipped the Tulley's and Barnard's place too. It took Billy Sawyer last night. Tulley family left for the coast this morning, can't says I blame them. We've been waiting to hear screams all night. We're both so tired, but how can you sleep?"

"You can't sleep," the Doctor answered. "I wouldn't. But you missed the screaming. It came from the next block over." He finished rinsing out the glass in his hands and added it to the dishes on the drying rack, then plunged his hands back into the soapy water. "A boy this time, by the name of Johnny Hanscom. Same story. Screaming in the night, found sitting bolt upright and unresponsive." He pulled out a clutch of silverware and started scrubbing at them with a brush. He looked back at both of them, but neither seemed to recognize the name. He rinsed the silverware off and tossed them in the rack. He dug around at the bottom of the sink and emerged with the plug, setting it aside.

"Well, I've had a good go at them. I think there's a few left, but I'm afraid Pandora and I have to go." He dried off his hands and threw the dishrag over the back of a chair. He picked up his tea tumbler and finished it off in one gulp. "You've given us some good information, and I think we'll be able to help. Someone will be in touch." He handed the man his tumbler, then shook both his hand and his wife's before leaving.

"We'll show ourselves out!" he called as he left. "Come along, Pandora, we've got one more stop."

"Where are we going now?" Pandora asked as she left the house.

"Why, I thought that would be obvious," the Doctor replied absently. He bent down in front of Obelix, scratched behind his ear and asked, "Har du gjort din sak nu?" The dog stood up and wagged his tail enthusiastically.

"Wait, you never bothered learning English, but you know Swedish?"

The Doctor looked up at her sheepishly, then patted Obelix's head and stood up. He looked both ways, then stepped back into the street, looking at the houses.

"It's hit this one twice, then went on to the neighbor's, and the next one too. But then it skipped this one," he said, pointing and running down in front of it.

"Yeah, but they don't have any kids..."

"I'm not sure that matters. It hit this one next. But then it skipped this house and that as well. Both having kids." He stopped and looked at her expectantly, then he ran back down to the first house.

"One, one," he said, pointing at the first house twice, then he started running down the block. Obelix stood up and raced after him. "Two, three, skip, five, skip, skip, eight." He stopped and looked at Pandora again.

"Thirteen?" She counted over, skipping over one street. "The Hanscom house is number thirteen. It's the Fibonacci sequence?"

"Yes, Pandora! And another house will be hit tomorrow night."

"Um, 21 then?" Pandora said. She started counting over eight more houses. "The twenty-first house will be hit tomorrow night." She stopped in front of the twenty-first house. It looked virtually identical to the others. "Wait, if it's so selective, it has to be intelligent. Someone is doing this on purpose!"

"Not necessarily. There are plenty of natural processes that follow Fibonacci's sequence. The placement of flower petals for instance."

"You think there's a virus that skips houses based on Fibonacci?" Pandora asked, incredulous.

"No, that would be unlikely, but there could be a carrier wave that determines where this phenomenon occurs next."

"So, our next stop is the twenty-first house. We have to warn them."

"What? No. They won't get hit until tomorrow. May as well let them sleep tonight. No, we need to go where this started."

"Weren't we just there?" Pandora asked, confused.

"That was the first reported case, but Fibonacci starts at zero." He pulled his sonic out and twisted it. When he activated it, it emmitted a torch beam without its customary sound. He walked back to the first house, Obelix loping after. Pandora followed along. The Doctor shone the light at the house next door. "What are the chances that this one here is zero?"

"I dunno. Looks the same as all the others. But why wouldn't they report it? Maybe they don't have any kids?"

"I told you. I don't think that matters." The sonic buzzed, and he opened the front door.

The two of them sneaked into the dark house and made their way, tiptoeing upstairs. The Doctor twisted his sonic again, and the light it emitted went from bright white to dull red. The floor plan of this house was identical to the other two they had been in tonight. The Doctor stepped around the banister at the top of the stairs and walked along the railing to the front of the house. The door to the front bedroom was barely ajar and he pushed it slowly open. The door creaked only slightly as it swung gently on its hinges.

The room was filled with boxes, some filled with paper, others with old electronic equipment and still more with dusty exersize gimics. The Doctor swept the beam of his sonic across them idly as he crossed the room skirting his way between boxes, toward the closet door. This door was also slightly ajar, and he pulled it open with his sonic and shone the light inside, but since the whole room was essentially one big closet, there was no reason to expect the actual closet would be any different.

"What's so interesting about the closet, Doctor?" Pandora whispered.

"Have you noticed that all the houses are the same? Evenly spaced, and with the same architectural details?" the Doctor responded, also whispering.

"Sure, but that's quite common, in'nit?"

"Certainly," the Doctor said dismissively. "But that means, if you measured the distance between this door and the next, then followed Fibonacci from there, there is a closet door at this point in every house where a child went sick." He twisted his sonic again until the light went blue, then he pressed the button on its side and with its familiar buzz, he swept the trim all around the door frame.

"Yeah, but you could do that from the top of the stairs, or the kitchen or whatever. Why the closet?"

"Sammie woke his family up talking about the monster in his closet," he said simply.

"Right. He woke up from a nightmare. Kids have those. You aren't suggesting that a monster actually came out of his closet, and didn't eat him or nothin', but scared him into a coma or something?"

The Doctor didn't respond. He just stood contemplating his sonic as if reading it in the dark room.

"Then it goes, house to house, following Fibonacci's sequence, scaring all the other kids, what, mathematically?"

The Doctor looked up at her, twisted the sonic around to deep red again, and shown it under his face. "I believe this monster follows a wormhole that moves based on a carrier wave that follows Fibonacci. I also think it is taking something from these children. Something they can't live without. Something I can't detect." He shone the light at Pandora, but it wasn't so bright that she had to do more than squint, then he shone it around the room, and finally back at the closet before switching it off. "But there's nothing here. I picked up trace anomalies at both Sammy's door and Johnny's, but nothing here."

He walked past Pandora, squeezing her shoulder as he passed. "Still, best to check the rest of the house. Our monster must have left Sammy's closet to enter Linny's room."

Pandora imagined a child in the next room laying stiff as a board for the past week. She shivered and followed the Doctor quietly back into the hallway.

The Doctor pushed open the next bedroom and shone the red light around. There was a double bed and a desk with a small television on it, and a rubbish bin overflowing, but no sign that anyone has used it in a while. The Doctor turned off the light and went on to the master bedroom.

The door was closed, but the Doctor tested it and found that it wasn't locked. He slowly twisted the handle, wincing every time the brass mechanism made a click, then he pushed the door open slightly and reversed the process. He gently pushed the door open far enough to fit inside, then shone his light around again. This time there was a figure lying motionless on the left side of the queen size bed. The Doctor shone his light to the closet door, which was closed, then illuminated the floor all the way to the door where he stood. He turned around and nodded to Pandora. He held up one finger, then turned and entered the room. She followed closely.

"Are they breathing?" Pandora whispered.

"I can't hear him if he is," the Doctor said, even quieter, creaping closer.

"Are their eyes open?"

"I can't tell yet, but he's probably just like the others."

"How do you know it's a he?"

The Doctor stopped, straightened to his full height, and turned toward Pandora. He shown the light up at his own face again, the underlighting giving him a spooky campfire-like look. "Do you really think this is the time to discuss how your language has no proper neutral singular pronouns for refering to a gendered sapient, and how the translation matrix causes my progressive, gender-positive thoughts to sound to you?"

"No," Pandora said sheepishly.

The Doctor nodded, turned, and immediately stepped on a creaky floor board. He froze, listening for any sign of life from the occupant of the bed. The moments stretched on with no response.

"Why are we whispering if you're pretty sure he's comatose?"

The Doctor turned again, an exasperated look on his face.

"What? I talk when I'm nervous."

He turned back around without saying anything, but he stepped a little less cautiously until he was standing at the side of the bed, next to the decidedly male figure.

The man was balding and wrinkled, with white eyebrows but a cleanly shaven face. He wore button-front striped pajamas, top and bottom, and there were a matching pair of slippers at the side of the bed. The mid-spring nights have been unseasonably warm, so while there was still a comforter on the bed, it was neatly folded to the side and he slept without it. His eyes were closed.

"I still can't tell if he's breathing," Pandora whispered, standing directly beside the Doctor.

They waited for at least a minute, but no sign of life came from the recumbent man.

"Can't you use your sonic?"

"It'll make noise. I don't want to wake him."

"Shouldn't we try to wake him?" Pandora asked at last.

"It'll scare the life out of him if he's not gone already," the Doctor responded.

"Well, maybe he's dead. I mean, properly dead, not comatose."

The Doctor frowned at her, but then leaned closely in and sniffed at the man as quietly as he could. He stood back up.

"How does he smell?" she asked.

"Old. But not dead," the Doctor responded.

"I suppose we could do the old back-of-the-spoon trick."

The Doctor frowned at her again, but then started patting down his many pockets. "I nicked one while I was doing dishes," he said.

"You what?" Pandora said and punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" he said.

Suddenly the man's eyes opened. He immediately focused on the Doctor. "Ahhhhh!" he screamed.

"Ahhhh!" Pandora screamed and jumped.

The man turned toward Pandora and screamed again. He sat up in bed.

The Doctor jumped back and grabbed Pandora by the arm. "Sorry!" he yelled. He stepped back toward the door, pulling Pandora with him. He dug into his pockets again and retrieved his psychic paper. "Sorry! Health inspector," he said, flipping open the paper, even though a sillouette was all the man could see at best. "We're responding to a report of gas leaks in the neighborhood, and when you didn't come to the door, we thought you may have succumbed! We'll let ourselves out!" He turned and ran out the door and down the stairs, keeping Pandora in front of him.

When they got outside and the Doctor had closed the door behind them, they both stopped, hands on knees, panting and hearts racing. Pandora laughed heartily, and the Doctor couldn't help himself. He joined in.

"Imagine if he'd woken up with the back of a spoon in his face," the Doctor said. Pandora started laughing even harder. He shone his light at her. "You okay?" he asked. He switched the beam back to white light.

"Yeah, just about. Almost scared the life out of me though."

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed. "Did you-" He stopped, and his face fell. He moved the sonic to focus the light past Pandora over her shoulder and stood up.

Pandora caught on and stopped laughing. She turned around and looked where the Doctor was focusing his sonic. The Doctor walked past her toward the garden path separating this house from Sammy and Linny's. There, on the side of their house was a child's drawing. The Doctor approached and reached up to touch it, standing on tip-toe. Blue chalk came away on his fingertips and he rubbed them together before idly wiping them off on his pant leg and stepping back.

He shone his light up at the second floor of the house. There, eight feet up, was a chalk sketch of a bright blue door with a yellow handle. "There it is. Zero. The start. Someone did do this deliberately."


	2. Dor

The Doctor and Pandora arranged to meet back at what they now called 'House 21' the next day just after dark, this time without Obelix. Pandora explained that it would be fine, that the Swede had a lot of friends, mainly street kids like her, and he liked to let them earn money instead of just giving it to them.

When Pandora got there, the Doctor was already waiting under the street lamp outside House 21. "I see you brought your box. Don't you get tired of carrying it around? It looks rather heavy."

"Yeah... I just feel safer having it with me. I mean, even people that I've grown to trust, that I've known for months still try to get inside as soon as my back is turned. I suppose I could leave it in your little alcove when you aren't going to be there, but that's okay. It's not as heavy as it looks. Are we ready?" she asked.

"We are. I was just trying to think of what to say is all." The Doctor approached the door and knocked.

They could hear activity in the house, but it took some time for someone to come to the door. When they finally did, it was a harried woman with short curly red hair in sweat pants and a tank top. "Yeah?" she said over the sound of children laughing, screaming and running.

"Good evening ma'am. I'm the Doctor from the W.H.O., and this is Pandora," he said, holding up his psychic paper. "I assume you've heard of the problems going on down the street?"

The woman turned around and yelled, "Hey! Shut it! I can't hear the man!" Then she turned back to the Doctor. There was no reduction in noise. "Sorry. Yeah, what about it?"

Pandora spoke up. "We have reason to believe that your house will be hit next. Tonight."

The woman smirked and leaned against the door frame. "Yeah? What reason?"

The Doctor said, "The reasons have to do with computer models, weather patterns, historical data and genetic information. It's all very complicated, but the model was spot on last night when it hopped several houses again. Believe me, ma'am. This house is next."

The smirk left the woman's face. "Computer models?"

"Yes ma'am, with stochastic capabilities," he said with a straight face.

The woman turned around again. "Shut it, or I'll thump you!" This time the noise level dropped somewhat. She turned back around to be greeted by disapproving faces. "I wouldn't, really. It's just... the threat works. And stop calling me ma'am. I'm Carol."

"Okay, Carol, do you have relatives you can stay with tonight? You need to get out of here," the Doctor said urgently.

"Yeah, my sister's in Wembley. Why? You mean my kids won't get sick if we're not here?"

"It's not the kids, ma'am - Carol," Pandora said. "It's the house. If you aren't here, you'll be fine."

"Okay, yeah. I'll call Georgia, but I'm sure it will be fine. Thanks, Doctor."

"And we'll need to stay here tonight," the Doctor said hurriedly.

"What? Why?"

"Computer models, Carol," the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow in a knowing manner.

Carol stepped aside to let them in. "Well, if you think it will help. Pardon the mess."

The Doctor and Pandora stepped inside. "Yes, I think it will. In fact, with the information we gain tonight, we may be able to come up with a cure for the other kids."

"We'll help you pack," Pandora said.

* * *

Pandora helped Carol throw together an overnight bag while the Doctor saw to the kids. He made a game of getting ready, and the kids demeanor changed entirely. They were still giggling, but they were a lot more calm. By the time they were ready to go, they were going to miss the Doctor. The youngest even asked if he could come with them.

"No," he said, "but I'll carry you to the car." He picked her up and whispered, "Quickly, call the middle seat."

"But I don't like the middle seat," she whispered back.

"That's why you call it," the Doctor replied. "Your brother and sister always fight over anything you want, don't they?" He could see the wheels turn in her head."

She smiled mischievously. "I get the middle seat!" she said loudly, and giggled.

"Not if I get there first!" the boy yelled, but the older sister was closer to the door. She ran outside and slammed the door behind her, forcing the boy to waste valuable seconds opening it back up. "No fair!" he called out as he ran.

"High five?" the Doctor said to the little one. She happily slapped his hand, and the Doctor carried her outside.

The Doctor stood at the curb and waved as they left, then returned to the house where Pandora was holding the door open.

"Okay, so what do we do now?" Pandora asked, closing the door behind him.

"Well, now we wait. My guess is it'll strike around midnight, but we don't have exact figures, just a vague timeline. It will happen when everyone would be in bed." He glanced at his watch. "10:17. The children should be in bed by now, but maybe not asleep, parents probably a couple hours off. Let's head to the front room and wait. You play poker?"

"Sure," Pandora responded and followed the Doctor upstairs.

The two enter the room and look around. This must have been the older sister's room. There was a tie dye rug in the center of the room, and a matching comforter on the bed. The room was painted a horrid fuchsia, and the walls were covered in photos of her and of other girls duck-facing. There was a poster of One Direction on the closet door with Zayn Malik's eyes crossed-out in sharpie, and a full length mirror standing in the corner near the front window.

"Could you grab some pillows from the other room?" the Doctor asked Pandora. "Let's make it look like there's a child in the bed."

Pandora set her box down close to the doorway and held up a warning finger.

The Doctor spread his arms. "I will never look inside your box without your permission," he said.

"And I will never give you permission," she responded. "So that's settled then." With that she turned and left.

She returned quickly with the pillows and they stuffed the bed in what the Doctor declared a satisfactory manner. The Doctor moved the mirror more toward the center of the room, and set a chair next to it and scooted Pandora's box next to that with his foot. They sat crisscross on the floor behind them in the growing dark.

The Doctor pulled a brand new pack of cards from his pocket, opened them up and shuffled several times.

"Doctor," Pandora said. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Ask me anything," he responded, dealing five cards to each of them.

"You were going to walk away at first, when that man was calling for help. What made you change your mind?"

The Doctor pulled out his sonic and twisted it until the tip glowed red, then he pulled on both ends. The tip extended, revealing a glowing section in the center. He set the sonic down in between them. "He mentioned his son." He was silent for a short while, looking at his cards and shifting their order, then he elaborated. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if kids were getting hurt and I didn't stop it."

"I thought so," Pandora said nodding. "So, it's somebody else's problem unless kids are getting hurt." Then she thought back to the thing at the bank. "Or if there's some kind of mystery. That's how it is?"

"Or if there are aliens. Yup, that's about right. Cards?"

"Two," she said, sliding two cards over to him.

He dealt her two card, then dealt himself four.

"You can't take four unless you've got an ace."

He slapped his ace of clubs down on the hardwood.

Pandora looked at her cards for a while. "What are we playing for? I don't have any money."

"Just for fun then."

"I can't bluff with 'for fun'. How am I supposed to get you to fold when I've got four fifths of a straight?"

"Wouldn't have mattered," the Doctor said. "I probably would have held on with my flush." He laid down the rest of his cards, all clubs.

Pandora laid down her own cards, then swept the lot toward herself and grumbled. "Probably didn't shuffle them well enough."

They played several more hands until the Doctor finally said, "Probably time we'd better switch off the light and be quiet." He picked up his sonic, collapsed it and stowed it in his pocket, then they sat quietly in the dark for a great while longer.

Pandora kept trying to think of what she could do to relieve the boredom, but everything she could think of either required light, or produced light. She really wanted to pull out her tablet, but she quelled the urge and tried to involve herself in her thoughts.

The time passed very slowly.

At one point Pandora yawned loudly and excused herself.

"Pandora?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember how I smacked the back of your head yesterday?"

"Yeah, why?" she asked warily.

"Because I need you to do the same thing to me. I'm starting to fall asleep, and that's not good. Something unnatural is happening."

She leaned across the intervening space and smacked the back of his head hard enough to hurt her hand.

"Thank you," he said, rubbing the spot where she had hit him. "Would you like me to give you one as well?" he offered, holding out his palm.

"No, I'm good mate," Pandora said, smiling broadly, knowing he couldn't see her.

Then they heard the sound of the closet door creaking, and the Doctor held a finger to her lips. He slowly reached for his sonic with his other hand.

A bright light came from the open door of the closet, and the silhouette of a creature could be seen. A bone white, scaly hand reached out and flexed against the hardwood floor, claws tapping viciously against the hardwood floor. A second hand reached out and gripped the edge of the door, slowly pushing it further open.

Pandora could feel panic grip her. Until this moment she didn't really believe that any of this could be real. She could feel her heart racing to the point where she could hear her pulse in her neck. She was sure that any moment this creature would hear it as well. She fought to control her breathing, and looked to the Doctor for reassurance.

The Doctor appeared strangely calm but curious.

Red eyes glowed as a skull-like face extended through the doorway and turned on a long neck to look at the bundle under the bedsheets. The creature smiled and chuckled a deep throaty laugh.

The Doctor removed his finger from Pandora's mouth, but continued to hold it up in front of her. He mouthed the word 'wait' without taking his eyes from the creature.

It let go of the door and stepped into the room, moving on all fours, its claws clacking menacingly with each step. The hulking creature approached the bed and removed a crystal globe from a thong around his neck. He held it out at arms length over the shape on the bed.

The Doctor stood up and pointed his sonic at the creature. "As a duly designated representative of the city, district, and county of London, I order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin or to the nearest convenient parallel dimension."

The creature wheeled around and disappeared back into the bright light of the closet, but the Doctor was ready and got to the door before it closed. He ran in after it and Pandora followed, grabbing her box as she ran past, and holding it in front of her, prepared to tackle the beast.

* * *

The Doctor skidded to a halt in a packed dirt street. It took him a moment to get used to the bright sunlight, and once he did, he jumped back out of the way of a cart that was barreling past.

Pandora plowed straight into his back. The Doctor turned, watching the door close behind them. "Don't be alarmed, Pandora," he started, but just then he spotted out of the corner of his eye, the creature they were chasing as it whipped around a corner ahead.

He grabbed Pandora by the hand and yelled, "Come on!" Without waiting for Pandora to even register her new surroundings, he bolted toward the corner he had seen the monster disappear around, and dragged Pandora behind him.

Pandora followed, her legs seeming to move on their own as her upper body acted independently, she gawked at each new species as she quickly passed it, unasked questions framed in her unbelieving eyes and constantly moving lips.

The Doctor reached the corner and made a tight ninety degree turn, then came to a stop.

"Kal, excuse me please, Dret," said a feminine-looking bipedal insect as it moved to avoid them and continue on its way. It had finger-like appendages outside its mouth that moved as she spoke.

"What the hell was that?" Pandora asked quietly, clinging to the Doctor's arm.

"She's a Malmooth," the Doctor responded, distractedly looking left and right. "Did you see where it went?"

"Where what went?"

"The Drendarin we were chasing!" the Doctor snapped, disengaging from Pandora's grasp and hurrying several steps further down the street only to jump up, craning his neck.

A heavyset, blue, bald woman in an intricate muumuu and extravagant golden jewelry stopped in front of Pandora carrying two large cases. "Young man," she said to her, "you cannot simply block the thoroughfare. Step aside for Nimon's sake!"

Pandora stumbled back against another door, narrowly avoiding falling through when the door opened up. Beyond the simple wooden door was a clearing in an aspen forest. A fire burned in a ring of stones in its center, and a large green-skinned creature with its back to her idly turned a pig on a spit over the fire. Pandora reached in and pulled the door shut hastily. "Doctor!" she yelled.

"It's no use," the Doctor said, coming back to her. "We've lost him."

"Doctor, those are aliens!"

"Yes, quite," he responded.

"No, real, proper aliens! None of your 'I've got two hearts' nonsense either! Real, proper aliens!"

"Yes, not so loud. They can hear you, you know." He stepped in close and caught her eyes with his own. "Now, technically, since we're on another world, you're an alien too, though that will take some effort to wrap your mind around."

She went from afraid to excited very quickly. "We are, aren't we?" She turned around, taking in her surroundings and the odd creatures moving through them. "But we can't be! We were just in a boy's room a second ago... Can we? What world is this?"

"Well, ah. That's a good question." The Doctor looked around. "A single yellow sun and a bluish sky," he said. He breathed in deeply then pulled out a yo-yo from one of his many pockets and threw it a couple times. "Gravity a bit lighter than Earth normal, air around 75% nitrogen and 8% oxygen, perfectly breathable if we don't exert ourselves. Dominant life form is..." He counted no less than a dozen species he recognized, but no clear majority. "Let's get back to that one." He looked around some more. "Streets are made of packed dirt here, but they slope up hill and I can see cobblestones in the distance suggesting the wealth lies uphill as usual..."

He stopped and scratched his head as something odd struck him. "The houses sure are close together... And they have absolutely no sense of style." There was a red four-panel door next to an old unpainted wood slat door. Next was a rounded blue door next to a large pair of double doors. A large circular metal door with a locking wheel at the center was next. They went on and on in all directions, no more than inches apart.

"Ah, now _I_ know something _you_ don't know. These aren't all houses." She pushed open the door she had previously leaned against and it opened again easily, revealing the pastoral scene from before, except now the large green creature was standing, carving a slice off the pig.

"No... It couldn't be!" the Doctor said in a hushed tone. He closed the door back up and moved on to the blue door next to it and pushed it open. Beyond lay a hut with a straw roof and wooden furniture. A table was laden with a bountiful feast and the place smelled of home. He closed that door too. "But that's just a myth!"

He stopped the next creature (Pandora couldn't quite bring herself to think of them as 'people' yet) to pass by. This one was over nine feet tall and as orange as a carrot with pale blue pupils in eyes as black as night. He was wearing alabaster robes with his hands folded together inside the overlapping sleeves such that it looked like he had only one arm connected at both shoulders.

"Excuse me, ma'am," the Doctor said. "Is this by chance the planet Dor?"

"Yes, my good man," she said in a deep, somehow mechanical voice. "You have found the mythical planet of Dor. May it contain everything you've been searching for." She bowed to him, then continued along her way.

"Well, son of a Clarkson!" he said, clutching his hair in both hands. "Dor! Planet of the ultra-super-rich. Where anything is for sale and anything is possible, and it's all right next door!"

"Ultra-super-rich? I wouldn't have guessed it by looking at the place."

"Well, not here. This is the 'anything for sale' part. But imagine the possibilities! Imagine that the universe is full of intersecting pathways, both natural and manufactured, connecting all the planets in all of space, and there's one planet right in the middle, touching all of them. This one. You build a door here, and it opens somewhere else. Now what if you build a house here? But not a house, a mansion? Your living room has a panoramic window looking out onto the Firefalls of Grax, but your bedroom is on the Ice Planet, Niflheim! Your breakfast nook opens onto a veranda on Andaluz! You see?"

"So, people living here have a house with sixteen rooms on sixteen different planets connected by ordinary doors?"

"Oh, no. We're talking the truly wealthy here. These are the people who buy and sell galaxies based on the whims of fashion. The universe is infinite, remember? We're talking thousands of rooms."

"Then they would be uphill..." she said, shading her eyes and looking off into the distance, but she could only see street after street of mismatched doors. "Oh, Doctor, I'd love to see them."

"All in good time, my dear. Remember we came here with a purpose. We need to find that Drendarin and return whatever it took from those kids."

"Right. Sorry," Pandora said, focusing on the task. Then she looked puzzled. "Doctor, what is a Drendarin, and what was it doing on Earth."

"Hmm. Good question. Drendarin are a war-like species that realized right about the point of First Contact that if they kept killing each other, there wouldn't be any left. So of course, they killed the aliens that had landed, took their ships and went out into the galaxy offering their services to anyone of a mind to set them on their enemies. They are mercenaries and assassins. They revel in blood and drink nothing else. Which begs the question. What was one doing on Earth, and why wasn't there a slaughter?"

Pandora didn't know what to say, so she said nothing.

"Well, someone 'round here is bound to know. Let's ask around at the stalls," the Doctor said. "But first thing first." He rummaged around in the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out the stump of some sidewalk chalk, brandishing it knowingly at Pandora. He turned and walked back around the corner they'd come from and Pandora hurried after him, confused.

He walked back to the door they'd come in through, a hollow core unpainted door with a shiny brass knob. "This is the one, right?"

Pandora looked up and down the street at the hundreds or maybe thousands of doors in sight. She felt a chill go through her as she realized she had no idea. "I'm afraid I didn't notice, but it was about this far to the corner..."

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, it was this one," he said, not totally reassuringly, then he marked the door with a large 'X' in pastel blue. Then he turned around and watched the traffic in this street, somewhat larger than the last one they were in. He matched speed with one of the carts and addressed the creature pulling it.

"Good day to you sir. What, may I ask, are you selling today?" he asked.

One of the creature's eyestalks swiveled around to consider the Doctor while the other continued to watch the road ahead. "Gren bat droppings. You in the market?"

The Doctor nonchalantly made a semi-circle and matched speed with a cart heading in the other direction. "Good day to you sir. What, may I ask, are you selling today?" he asked. Pandora did her best to keep up.

Every now and then there was a break between doors and invariably, someone had set up a stall in the space available. As each cart or individual passed by, these hawkers would announce their wares, or in some cases, what they were looking to buy. As Pandora passed one of these stalls, hurrying to catch up with the Doctor's erratic movements, a tentacle reached out and curled around Pandora's arm. "What's in the box, Dearie?" called a deep voice.

Pandora instinctively pulled away, and the tentacle let go of her arm. She looked up to see the owner, a green creature with thin tentacles sprouting from the top of its head and cascading around its entire body like hair. The creature's only other feature was a single large yellow eye with a red pupil. Pandora did her best not to shudder. "It's not for sale," she said as politely as she could manage around her fear and disgust.

The creature shook as it laughed. "Everything's for sale here. Haven't you heard? Name your price."

Pandora held the box tightly to her chest, wrapping both arms around it. "Not everything. Not this."

"Valuable then. I deal in Gleborian pearls. No one will offer a better price." The creature's tentacles below its eye parted and the creature raised a flat squid like tentacle. It made a vomiting sound and from the space under its eye poured out a slobbery collection of multi-colored and slightly glowing marble-sized baubles.

The Doctor appeared at Pandora's side and put an arm around her shoulder. "The box has no value beyond the sentimental, I'm afraid. Ta now. Come along Pandora." He ushered her back into the street and hurried away from the stall. Pandora looked back to see the creature leaning across the stall, watching them depart. It idly swallowed its clutch of pearls. Pandora's repressed shudder finally came to the fore and she looked away.

"Buying or selling, mate?" the creature at another stall called out. He was leaning with one elbow on the stall and his other three arms busily wiping it down with cloths. He had bright blue eyes and a friendly expression, with silver tattoos on his forehead that went all the way up and back to the point at the back of his bald head. His outfit looked like red silk with gold trim.

"Buying!" the Doctor said enthusiastically. "Information if you have any. I'm looking for a Drendarin. Do you know of any that frequent this place?"

The creature stood up straight. "That would be the Domager of Kirk's man. What are you willing to pay for this information?"

The Doctor patted down his pockets. "I've only got Earth currency on me... I don't suppose you take that...?"

The creature's smile never wavered, but the impression he gave was that, no. He didn't take 'Earth currency'.

"No matter, no matter," the Doctor said, searching through his pockets. "I'm sure we can come to some form of agreement."

Pandora's attention wandered as they were assailed on all sides by incredible sights and sounds. She wanted to see what else was to be seen. She looked back at the Doctor, and was sure he had this handled, so she moved on down the street. The next stall had a woman behind it, floating just inches above the ground. She was golden, and glowed with an inner light. Pandora noted that she could just about see through the woman. She nodded when she made eye contact with Pandora and gestured toward the wind chimes she was selling. Pandora smiled and shook her head, moving on.

The next booth had a squat domed cylindrical creature pouring what appeared to be purple chocolates into seashell-shaped molds. He didn't even appear to notice her, and she moved on.

The next booth had a couple behind it, one appeared to be male, and the other female, and they were selling all manner of fruits. This booth was very popular, and Pandora skirted the crowd as she moved past. The sweet yet unfamiliar smell of something they had to offer brought her attention back to it though as she passed. That's when she saw that the two creatures were in fact conjoined from the waist down. She turned away in shock.

At the next stall was a feminine-looking creature with velvety indigo hair covering her body. She was about four and a half feet tall and appeared to be basically humanoid, but she was covered in a long cloak that matched her skin tone, so it was hard to tell. Her booth was filled with a dozen cages, each one containing a small copy of her. Fuzzy indigo children, clutching at the cage bars. 'Her children?' Pandora wondered, horrified. She made a conscious decision not to judge alien cultures without knowing anything of the universe at large.

While she watched, one of the patrons, a short green creature with a fleshy mohawk running down its back, purchased one. She opened up the cage and reached inside, then quickly snapped its neck and laid it flat on the counter. When she pulled out a butcher's knife, Pandora turned and ran back to the Doctor.

"Doctor, I want to leave," Pandora said, clutching his arm when she got there. She started pulling him away in the direction of the door with the chalk mark. He let himself be led, waving good-bye to the four-armed fellow behind the counter.

"What's the sudden rush?" the Doctor asked, trying to extricate himself from Pandora's grasp.

"I'm trying not to judge, and I know I don't understand a lot of stuff, but they are doing the most horrible things here!" she said, insistently dragging him along.

"Surely not everyone..." the Doctor said, looking around. "Have you got something against wind chimes?"

"No! It's that woman over there," she said, pointing. "She's butchering her own children for meat!"

"Ah," the Doctor said, understanding. "Yeah, that one's morally questionable. Though not as bad as you think. Those are clones, not children. They bud off her kind. Underneath the cape she's got another few growing even now. By tomorrow she'll have another dozen. Only one in a thousand gains sentience. Other races are constantly hunting them for food anyway, and they'll take the sentient ones too. This way they avoid overcrowding issues and she makes a bit of money instead of just being a victim. It's not nice, but there it is.

Pandora stopped pulling quite so hard. "I've got a lot to learn, obviously," she said. "But that is just wrong."

They walked along for a while, but with no particular destination now, when something else occurred to Pandora. "Hey, why is everyone speaking English?"

"I've explained that already. The Tardis translation matrix works for us automatically, causing everything you read and hear to look and sound in your native tongue."

"Yeah, that works for you, Spaceman, but I've never even seen your Tardis. How's it working for me?" Pandora asked.

The Doctor had his mouth open for a while before he answered. "That's actually a really good question. She must know about you. At some point in the future she will apparently set you up retroactively. It's the only thing that makes sense. I'm not sure how I feel about that."

Someone started shouting a ways off, "Make way! Make way!" Trumpets sounded, and people scattered in the streets. The only people left stepped back against the walls, then knelt down and pressed their faces against the dirt road.

"Do as the Romans, Pandora," the Doctor said, taking her by the arm and stepping back against the wall. They bowed down like those around them.

Pandora looked sideways toward the sound of trumpets and could see a group of bald green men wearing black eye makeup and golden armor that could only be ceremonial, carrying a palanquin toward them. She imagined that this must contain one of the ultra-super-rich. Curiosity got the best of her and compelled her to look up as it passed, so she could see what they look like.

She lifted her head as it passed and saw a man with long eyebrows and bristly hair sitting on a bed of pillows. He had extremely baggy skin, especially around the neck where it hung down in layers to his bare belly. He had long dangly earlobes with dozens of golden rings in each, and a necklace made up of glass globes filled with intensely bright dancing lights, each one unique and unparalleled in it's beauty.

"Hey," she whispered. "Don't those look like the one our Drendarin had back in Tommy's room?"

The Doctor's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "Oh, dear Attenborough, no!" he exclaimed. "He's wearing the children as jewelry?"

"What are we going to do?" Pandora asked.

"First we're going to get these back, then we're going to stop the Drendarin from getting any more. Come on, let's follow this thing." After the palanquin passed, there were a group of dancers following along. As soon as they passed, the Doctor and Pandora stood up and walked at the back of the procession.

The procession made a turn at the next intersection and started heading up the hill. The Doctor and Pandora followed along as the dirt turned to cobblestone. Soon, the walls of doors spread out and they passed by some actual houses, though there were no windows to be seen. Pandora chuckled. These must be the merely rich.

A flash of white caught her eye down one alley, but by the time she looked, it was gone. When the procession got to the next alley though, she saw it. The white horned skull of the Drendarin lurking in the shadows and paralleling the palanquin on the next street over.

She tugged on the sleeve of the Doctor's hoodie. When he turned to look, she motioned with her head and eyes. When they got to the next alley, he saw it too and immediately took off running. The creature saw him and ran. They followed, matching every turn. It doubled back several times and got held up by crowds a few times and was forced to make sudden turns to avoid them. The Doctor and Pandora started to gain on it.

It looked over its shoulder to find them just half a block back, then turned suddenly and opened a smoky black door. It rushed through, slamming the door behind it.

"You won't get away that easily!" The Doctor said and opened the door, plunging through, Pandora following closely behind.

They found themselves on another new planet, in darkness this time. The ground was a loose gravel composed of sharp, black glass-like shards of rock. The air smelled strongly of rotten eggs and heat radiated from the ground. There were no buildings or vegetation in sight, and no Drendarin. Suddenly they heard its deep chuckle behind them. They turned to see a door frame standing alone in the desolate landscape. The streets of Dor could be seen through the doorway over the shoulder of the smiling Drendarin as he stepped inside and shut the door.

Pandora ran to the door and threw it open. Only the barren black rock of this dead world lay beyond.

"Cowell me!" she said.


	3. Death's Door

Pandora opened and closes the door several more times, screaming at it. The Doctor sat down cross-legged and said, "Conserve your breath. I don't think the air here is very good for us."

"'You think?' Why don't you use your sonic and analyze it?

"Nothing on Dor comes for free, and I had nothing else of value. I had to give it up to procure a service."

"And now we're stuck on a dead planet, god knows where, and you haven't even got your little multi-tool?"

The Doctor said nothing, instead pulling a harmonica out of one of his pants pockets and blowing scales.

"How can you play harmonica at a time like this?" she demanded.

"Not very well, frankly. I'm just learning and there are no YouTube videos out here." He continued to work on his scales.

"Well, if it's just going to be scales until we die of thirst, I'd rather you didn't play."

"I can do a bit of 'Mannish Boy'." He blew out the opening riff, then counted out the beat, "Dun-dun, dun-dun," and blew the riff again. "Not well, you know."

"Uh huh. Very nice."

"We could just talk instead," the Doctor said. He twisted in place. "Tell me about your family."

"What, is that important, right now?" Pandora riled, furious.

"Could be. Did you inherit this box of yours from one of them?"

"I told you, we are not talking about this box."

"No, no we're not. We're talking about your family. What's your mum like?"

"Totally stodgy, no sense of adventure. Rather controlling. Nothing like me... and that's our problem."

"Good, now we're getting somewhere. What about your dad? What's he like?"

"Wouldn't know. Now can you do something about getting us back home?"

"Nothing to do. We're stuck here, wherever here is, until someone comes and gets us."

"And you aren't panicking? You think maybe people use that door all the time?" She bent down and picked up a chunk of the obsidian rock and brandished it at the Doctor. "I get it, they've got a surplus of black glass and twice a day every day they open that door to chuck the lot through here." She tossed the rock as far as she could.

The Doctor didn't comment, he just played 'Mannish Boy' again.

"That's right, you just sit there! Any moment someone's going to just open up that door and rescue us!" Pandora yelled at him, nearing tears.

"Um, hello?" called a voice.

"Ah, Jervaix!" the Doctor said, standing and stashing his harmonica. "You're just in time. Pandora was starting to panic."

Pandora turned to see the door standing open again, and the four-armed man from the market stalls was standing in the doorway. She rushed forward and threw her arms around him.

"Well, thank you, ma'am, but I was only doing what I was paid to. Your Doctor friend asked me to follow you two and open any doors that Drendarin left you behind."

"And you performed admirably, my man. Any chance he saw you?" the Doctor asked.

"None whatever, sir. I waited until he was long gone," the creature said proudly.

Pandora let go of him. "Wait, you knew this would happen, and you let it?" she accused the Doctor.

"Well, it was a little obvious once I took the calculated risk that he wouldn't simply kill us. But given that he didn't kill the children, I felt safe. No, we were a problem for him, and the easiest way for him to deal with this problem would be to dump us off-world. And the easiest way for us to investigate unhindered, was to let him think he did."

"And you didn't think to let me in on your plan?" Pandora seethed at him.

The Doctor ignored the question. "Of course, I considered just closing the door after him, but I had to be sure this wasn't somewhere he wanted to be." He shrugged. "Obvious, really. I thought you'd figure it out."

"Okay, I'd like to step through that doorway now. Then I can finish yelling at you."

Jervaix stepped aside to let her pass.

The Doctor called out after her, "Any chance we can put off the yelling until after, you know, we save those kids' lives?", then he too stepped through the doorway.

Pandora rolled her eyes. "Fine."

The Doctor closed the door behind them. "Good," he said. "I think it's time to upgrade our neighborhood. Show us the way to the Domager's Palace please, Jervaix."

"I think you'll find sir, that our arrangement is complete. One sonic screwdriver for one timely rescue." Jervaix said.

"Ah, yes. That's true. Well, thank you Jervaix. Use it in good health. Don't worry, we'll find our own way to the Domager's Palace."

"Good bye sir. And good bye to you too madam. May Dor contain everything you've been searching for," he said with a bow, and turned to leave.

"Of course," said the Doctor, "if you want to know how to actually _use_ the sonic screwdriver, I could teach you, for a price."

* * *

Jervaix brought them to a palace beyond Pandora's imagination. It looked to be made of a simple adobe, but it was as large as many cities. It was surrounded on three sides by something of a garden wall, though the garden itself was desert sand and rock and hearty weeds. The mansion was no more than two stories for the majority of it, and flat-roofed suggesting that it never rained on Dor. The central section though, was a tower of immense proportions, several city blocks at it's base, it lost a dozen feet to a balcony every ten stories or so and reached as high as one could see. There were several gates opening into the garden, but only one entrance to the palace proper; the front gates which were heavily guarded, with a dozen soldiers carrying swords and several automated turrets.

"That way is out of the question, then," the Doctor said. He stepped to the next garden gate. "Let's see what we've got here."

He threw wide the gates and stepped inside. A warm breeze came out through the doorway, smelling of Spring. All they could see for miles were the stems of giant flowers swaying gently in the breeze. The Doctor closed the gates back up. "No... But just out of curiosity..."

The Doctor walked down to the next garden gate with Pandora and Jervaix following. He threw open the next gate to reveal a dense, dark forest of snow-dusted evergreens. The gate was at the top of the hill, and they could see clear to the next hill several miles away, and beyond to a range of mountains. "We could search for days and never find the door to the house."

He closed the door. "Smelled of thyme," the Doctor said with a far-away look.

He looked back toward the front gates. "So, as I was saying, that way is the only way. That'll mean you, Jervaix."

The four-armed creature fidgeted. "Oh sure 'nuff. That'll be easy, right?" he said in what sounded like a nasally Australian accent.

"What happened to your voice just then?" Pandora asked.

Jervaix coughed, then said normally, "Sorry, I do silly voices when I get nervous."

"Really?" the Doctor smiled. "Can you do Danger Mouse?"

"What?"

"Nothing." The Doctor started pacing. "Okay, we need to hack the system. What have we got? Some doors are permanent and bi-directional. Others are one-way, open it from the other side and it's just an ordinary door. Still more are temporary, or moving, like the one that brought us here. I wonder if a door can be created that takes one to another place on Dor. Must do. No way the Domager climbs stairs to the top of that. But all doors must come through Dor. He can't have a door from one planet to another without coming here in between. Knowing what I've picked up and what I've scanned since coming here, I can build new doors. Something clever..."

He continued to pace, snapping his fingers rapidly. "Come on Pandora! Think. What's clever about doors? Fancy locks... but I can't imagine that helping us... What can we come up with that no one ever has? Doors within doors? A Jacob's Ladder of doors maybe?"

"What? One of those electrical sparking things?" Pandora asked.

"No, one of those clacking children's toys with wooden blocks, attached on both sides, but not really on either so they can flip- Oh, never mind. But, oh! That's good."

He stopped pacing and looked up at the skyscraping structure. "You know what this place is really lacking, Pandora? A few more doors."

* * *

"So I says to her," one of the guards started. He was one of a group gathered to secure the bridge serving as the main entrance to the Domager's palace. "I says, that's not a gorblax you're talking to, that's my halciphont!"

The group of guards burst into raucous laughter until one tapped another and pointed. The second guard yelled, "Hey!" and the laughter died down.

Coming toward the bridge purposefully and pushing a cart was a four-armed man in a red silk outfit.

Three of them broke off and barred the way, hands on their weapons. "Heave to!" ordered the one in the middle.

Jervaix stopped the cart and set it down. "A gift for the Domager from the Emperor of the Braxis Spiral," he announced. The cart contained a single large chest about 2 feet long, a foot and a half wide and a foot tall.

"Present it for inspection," the bored guard said.

The man flourished with two arms while he unhooked the clasp and drew back the lid. The chest was filled with large iridescent pearls of blue and red that glowed with an inner light. "Gleborian Pearls," Jervaix announced.

One of the guards drew his sword and poked it into the chest and stirred it around, banging it against all four sides and the bottom. "Go ahead. The throne world is straight ahead. Deviate from the red carpet, and our orders are to kill you. If the Great and Bountious Domager of Kirk is not present in the throne world, leave your offering behind. He will not expect you on his return." He returned his sword to his scabbard and rejoined the others, who all started looking bored again.

Jervaix pushed the cart forward, whistling a tune of his homeland. Guards at the large red double doors opened them wide as he approached.

The room beyond was enormous. While the doors were tall, the wall they were set in was no more than two stories tall, but inside, it was at least ten stories tall. Massive gas-lit crystal chandeliers hung from the distant ceiling on golden threads, and led the way forward into the distance toward a second set of double doors. He was standing on a majestic causeway, eight lanes wide and made of a translucent marble. An aqueduct ran along each side of the causeway, overflowing its banks and spilling out over the edge. Jervaix set the cart down and walked to the edge to look over. He immediately felt a bout of vertigo and stepped back. The water spilled off into the distance, eventually forming a cloud of mist in the darkness below. It was impossible to say how far up he was. A living carpet of neatly-trimmed red, velvety grass grew down the center of the marble causeway to the distant doors.

Jervaix let out a whistle. "And this is just the foyer!" he said in awe. He picked the cart back up and began the trek across the foyer. Snow white birds with impossibly long tails flitted back and forth in front of him, and filled the air with a mysterious song that somehow echoed off the distant ceiling and walls.

As he approached the second set of double doors, they opened automatically. Beyond lay a short length of hallway with another set of double doors, this time made from gold. The walls and ceiling were intricately detailed with cherubs floating through clouds, and birds bringing them delicacies carried in their beaks in hammocks of cloth. The entire two-story cubical structure appeared to be carved from a single piece of ivory. The golden doors opened for Jervaix as the red wooden doors closed behind him.

Next Jervaix pushed his cart into the throne room proper. The floor was of rosy marble with gold and indigo inlays. There were rows and rows of knee pillows in a herringbone pattern immediately to either side of the red carpet, presumably for those multitudes who come to adore the Great and Bounteous Domager. Beyond those were rivers of glowing water in slaloming channels carved into the marble, and beyond those, a musical water garden on either side. Most of the marionettes and other features of the water garden were still at the moment, but a long row of mechanical birds popped up and sang as their turn in the music came up.

Though the massive room was square, the ceiling was a dome of frosted crystal with the very center being a hundred yard diameter stained-glass depiction of the Domager's apotheosis. Beyond, in carefully placed clear panels, could be seen the night sky of whatever planet the throne room was on, in which a super-massive black hole could be seen slowly devouring a spiral galaxy.

In the front of the room was a semi-circular dais cut off from the rest of the room by a waist-high jade railing bisected by the red carpet. Steps started at the railing and ran up to the dais well above head height, where the throne in velvety reds and purest golds sat, currently empty.

Placed upon the railing were the offerings of a hundred other supplicants, each one arranged for best viewing.

It somehow felt sacrilegious to approach even the empty throne pushing his well-used cart, so Jervaix set it down just before the stained-glass of the dome began, picked up the chest, and walked the quarter mile or so to the railing. He found an empty spot half way around the right side of the railing and set down the chest. He unhooked the clasp and opened the chest, revealing the glowing orbs within.

He looked both ways, then reached in with his lower set of arms and scooped out two handfuls of pearls, stuffing them into his pockets. He then closed the lid, reattached the clasp, and swung the lid open from the other side again. It opened on a set of hinges cleverly hidden on the front of the box a half inch below the normal opening. He looked in through the opening to see the Doctor and Pandora standing, back in his stall.

"It's about time!" said the Doctor. "I was beginning to think you might have been caught pilfering from the Domager." He lifted Pandora up by the waist and she handed her box through first, then Jervaix helped pull her out of the chest.

Next the Doctor passed out of the box a series of doors. "You sure these will work?" Jervaix asked, pulling out another door and handing it to Pandora. "I've never really thought much about all the doors, I just kind of assumed they'd always just been there and just went places."

"They'll work," the Doctor said with confidence. "There was a lot of maths involved in tuning these, but now that they're tied into the pathways, if you press them against a surface or place them in an enclosure and open them, they'll go where I want." He passed up the last of the doors, then jumped up, grasping the sides of the chest in both hands and pulling himself through.

The Doctor reached into one of the pockets in his pants and pulled out a white paper bag, handed it to Pandora and searched through a few other pockets until he pulled out a deck of postcards. He started flipping through them.

"What's in the bag," Pandora asked, prying it open to look inside.

"Belgrian chocolates. Got them in the market for my yo-yo. Go ahead, try one. Just make sure you leave a piece for me," the Doctor said without looking up from his postcards.

Pandora pulled one out. It was purple and shaped like a sea shell. She popped it in her mouth. "Mmm. These are good. Not quite like the chocolate I'm used to, but tasty. I saw the, um, creature selling these back in the market."

"A Belgrian. It's not actually chocolate like you know it, it's actually a fungus of sorts. It spreads quickly through any liquid, consuming it and solidifying it into that. One is really all you need." He found the postcard he was looking for. "Ah!" he announced flipping it around to show to them.

Pandora stopped chewing, and ignored the postcard. " _Any_ liquid? Won't that, like, dry out your whole body in the process?" she asked around a mouthful of the stuff.

"Nah, the fungus is neutralized by the enzymes in your saliva. Though it is considered a munition on many planets. Imagine dropping one of those in the ocean... But look at this," he said, shaking the postcard to draw attention to it.

Pandora swallowed slowly, then squinted at the photo on the postcard with Jervaix peering over her shoulder. "What am I looking at?"

"These postcards," the Doctor explained waving the stack, "are highlights of some of the worlds contained in the Domager's palace. This one," he brandished the one in his other hand, "is of T'lotl Minor. An unlikely planet to include in his palace. A jungle world, primitive, with no valuable resources, and a violent native population. However, they do have an almost limitless supply of blood, because the warlike gods of the Coxotl people demand daily sacrifices. Note the pyramid. There is a death alter near the top with channels that drain the blood to a chamber far below where the gods are said to dwell."

"The Drendarin," Pandora said, catching on.

The Doctor pointed to her and touched his nose with the other hand, continuing. "Now if I were a Drendarin, and the Domager wanted my services, but I couldn't kill anyone, he'd have to offer me a lot of blood."

"So they've got a door to that blood chamber down there."

"Exactly. And we're going to replace it."

Jervaix cut in. "Just out of curiosity, why couldn't he kill anyone?"

"The children's essence he collected for the Domager's necklace. It's part of their life-force. If he killed the children, they would simply dissipate, leaving the Domager with simple glass beads."

"What did you trade for the postcards?" Pandora asked.

"I didn't, I nicked them."

Pandora tsked and rolled her eyes, and Jervaix muttered something about "unheard of".

"What's that?" the Doctor said. "I couldn't hear you over the sound of whatever is rattling around in your pockets."

"Yes... well," Jervaix said, then coughed and suddenly noticed something interesting about the throne.

"Now let's see if we can find one for you," the Doctor said, his gaze lingering on Jervaix a little longer. Then he handed the shot of T'lotl Minor to Pandora before flipping through the cards again. "Got to be in here somewhere..." he mumbled.

He pulled one out and stuck it under one arm before relegating the rest of the stack to an inside pocket of his hoodie. He then retrieved the one from under his arm and tapped Jervaix between two shoulders with it. "What do you think of that?"

Jervaix took the card and held it out to look at. The postcard depicted a gaudy room with a rectangular canopy of gossamer curtains hanging from a filigreed hardwood ceiling. Below it was an ivory box filled with a dense vapor with lush pillows floating atop it. The walls had paintings of pink, baggy-skinned females bathing or cavorting with anthropomorphic woodland creatures. Front and center was a portrait of the Domager himself in stately attire. "The Domager's bedchamber?" he asked.

The Doctor smiled evilly.

* * *

The Domager sat up in the dense mist that supported him as he slept. He put a hand to the side of his head where just a moment ago he had felt an intense pain. Fear clutched at his heart. "Lights!" he yelled. Orbs of light instantly appeared, illuminating his room without being bright enough to make his squint. He looked around frantically for whatever had woken him and caused him such pain.

The sound of a child's giggle came from the left side of his bed. He screamed and turned, clutching the ivory bedside and looking over. Only the soft carpeting of Golak fur could be seen.

The giggling came from the other side of his bed this time, slightly higher. A second child? He pushed to float across to the other side and looked over, but could see no child. He reached out and touched the soft fur, noting that his hand left an impression behind, but that there were no footprints. "Who's there?" he called out.

There was no response in the empty room.

He stepped awkwardly out of the bed and called out in a friendly voice that belayed his fear, "Come out, child."

He waddled around his bed, then turned the other direction and rounded the corner. "Hrruuu?" he whispered.

"Domager," called a sing-song voice behind him and he whirled around to catch the child. "Domager, domager!" it called again. But that was impossible! He could now see where the voice was coming from, but no one was there. Only his dressing table, and atop it, the stand holding his prized new necklace.

He approached slowly. Turning his head to hear better, but the sound of his own breathing was too loud. He tried to calm himself. "Ch-child...?" The necklace glowed softly, each bauble a unique color and pattern, pulsing in unison with the others.

"Play with us," a voice called right in his left ear. He turned and jumped.

"Come _be_ with us," called another in his right ear.

"Ahh!" he yelled, turning toward the new voice and backing away.

Then from seemingly inside his own head came the sing-song voice again. "Dom-a-ger in his tow-er, sleeping all alone, snoring, dreaming, while someone stole his throne!"

Laughter started up from the direction of the necklace. One voice, then another, then a third.

"Wear the necklace," said a new voice, this time low and mysterious.

"Security," the Domager said in a hoarse whisper. The door to his bedchamber creaked. The Domager turned with a scream. Nothing but a child's giggle greeted him. He turned again and opened a drawer on his dressing table, carefully watching the necklace for any change. He removed his sliver-pistol and thumbed off the safety, then turned to face the open chamber door again and put his back to the wall. "Who-" he said weakly, then swallowed and reminded himself that he was the one with the gun, and demanded more forcefully, "Who's there?"

He heard the necklace speak again, in a child's whisper. "We're coming for you."

He pointed the pistol at the necklace and slowly slid sideways against the wall, his other hand reaching out for the door to his panic room. He was past the point of controlling his breathing when his hand finally closed on the door handle. He twisted it quickly, flew inside and closed it all in one swift motion.

He breathed a sigh of relief and called out, "Secure door!" He re-engaged the safety and waited for the sound of the plassteel bolts to slide into place guaranteeing his security. He turned and slid down the door. The sound of his safety wasn't forthcoming.

Only then did he notice where he was. The pale blue outline of a humanoid's upper torso floated a few feet from him, staring at him. He sat up in panic. As far as he could see into the distance, such figures floated across the ruined landscape. An angry sun whose surface looked like boiling lava hung large in the sky, providing scant light and heat.

The ghostly figure closest to him slowly raised a hand to point at the Domager. It opened its mouth and glowed more brightly as it let out a sound that wasn't a moan or a scream, but somewhere in between. The other figures turned in his direction in response to the sound.

The Domager screamed and pushed open the door, falling back through into his bedchamber. He stood quickly and slammed the door. He looked around in a panic to verify his surroundings. It was his room. His bed, his paintings, his dressing table, his-

His necklace was missing.

* * *

Keldren the Drendarin had a few hours before his next trip through the Earthdoor, and he was thirsty. He crawled through the passages of the Domager's palace, passing wonders that he cared nothing for. To him, this massive, unimaginable mansion contained only one thing of value, and it was his.

He drew back the samite tapestry that hid the simple arched wooden door to his chamber of offerings. The only thing of value, and it is hidden away instead of put on display as it should be. A thing of pure, functional, brutal beauty. He paused at the door, thinking about the room beyond.

The chamber was pyramid shaped, echoing the building five hundred feet above. At the top was a spout with four openings where the blood drained in constant rivulets down each of the four walls. Everlasting torches burned in the corners of the pyramid to illuminate the complicated carved path each stream of blood followed, splitting at each intersection and forming a red canvas depicting scenes of worship and sacrifice. At the base of each wall, the blood flowed into a central cutout that ran along the floor to a square pedestal in the very center of the room. The blood then ran contrary to gravity, up the pedestal and through a hole in the bottom of a large basin, keeping it constantly full. Keldren has drunk deeply from this well and never managed to noticably reduce its level.

Keldren pushed open the door and stopped in the doorway. "Not possible!" he said.

The Doctor sat cross-legged leaning against the pedestal, eating sweets out of a white paper bag. He got to his feet as the Drendarin entered the room, closing the door. "Sorry, friend, but you can't get rid of me that easily."

"I'll fix that soon enough," Keldren growled, approaching the Doctor and flexing his claws.

The Doctor quickly snatched a chocolate out of his bag and held it out over the river of blood. "I wouldn't. Do you know what this is?"

Keldren stopped, narrowing his eyes. "Belgrian?"

"Very good. And you know what will happen if I drop this."

"What do you want?" Keldren asked suspiciously.

"I want you to leave the children of Earth alone. I also wanted you to know I had this." The Doctor reached into his hoodie and withdrew the necklace far enough to show it to the Drendarin, then stowed it again. "My guess is that the Domager's taste in jewelry has recently changed, but I want to ensure that Earth stays off your hunting grounds either way. If I find out otherwise, I will be back, and I will cut off your blood supply for good."

Keldren growled menacingly, but couldn't risk following his instinct. He heard the door open behind him and he swiveled his long neck to look.

The Doctor's companion was peeking through. "The alarm's been sounded. We need to go." Keldren growled again and Pandora eyed him warily.

"Eyes on me, Drendarin," the Doctor said. The creature turned its menacing gaze on him. "Now, we're going to leave now. There's no point in following, and I suggest you don't try. Stay here, slake your thirst and calm yourself. Give it, let's say, twenty minutes. Then you can do as you please."

"Who are you?" Keldren demanded.

The Doctor walked past the Drendarin, passing within inches of him. "I'm the Doctor." He got to the door and turned. "And the Earth is under my protection. Catch." He threw the chocolate back into the room and closed the door.

Pandora looked at the Doctor nervously. "You're sure he can't follow us?"

"Oh, yes. Positive. I added a door to the inside of his door. If you open it from this side, it will go to his offering chamber, but if you open it from the inside it will take you to a world that would be a living hell for him." The Doctor and Pandora walked together back to where Jervaix was waiting with the chest which would take them back to his booth.

"Living hell? How so?" Pandora asked.

"Well, the door is spring loaded, so it will close on its own if he goes through. It's a temporary door though, so all he has to do is wait like I told him. But the planet it links to never developed animal life. He'd have to learn to be a vegetarian. There's a tree who's sap is much like plasma. Close enough that he'd survive, but it would taste horrible. Of course, we may never know if he went through it or not."

"What about the one you pasted on the Domager's panic room door?" she asked.

"Not so much a living hell, but you know how I showed Jervaix how to use the sonic to vibrate the inner ear bones like we did at the bank, and he was doing his silly voice thing in the Domager's head? Well, we were trying to convince him he was being haunted, so I sent him to the Gelth home world, literally a world of ghosts. They used to be people, like you and me, but their sun was destroyed in the Time War and the Gelth themselves were reduced to this sort of gaseous form. Anyway, I only needed him there long enough to nick the necklace, and it helped to complete the illusion."

Pandora nodded and they walked on silently for a while.

"And the necklace, what do we do with that?" she finally said.

"I'm pretty sure we just smash the baubles. The children's essence should return to them on their own, sort of... magnetically," he said, waving his hands around vaguely.

"Then what's stopping you? There are some desperate parents out there, waiting for their kids to wake up!"

"Well, I don't know how it works, exactly. Or precisely where we are. We took a door and travelled potentially billions of light years in an instant. If I smash the globes here, it may take billions of years for the essences to travel back. No, I want to get back to Earth first."

They got to Jervaix, who was holding the lid of the chest open. The Doctor sat down on the edge of it with his legs dangling through. "Come along, Pandora. Let's go home," he said, and dropped through into Jervaix's stall.

Jervaix helped Pandora through, and the Doctor caught her legs. Jervaix followed, closing the hidden lid behind himself with an extra arm.

* * *

Later that night, the Doctor took a walk through Hyde Park to see his Tardis. He got there to find that local kids had taken to writing graffiti on it. The Doctor licked his thumb and rubbed at the worst of it, which came off easily.

"Sorry old girl," he said. "Kids will be kids."

He grabbed the cuff of his hoodie and started to work on the rest of it. "I got to see the planet Dor. Turns out it's not just a legend after all." He took a look at his sleeve, covered with black, white and red stains, and brushed at them. They didn't come away from his clothes as easily as they had the Tardis. He looked back at her and said, "Wish you were there. It's not the same without you."

He moved around to the back and rubbed out some more hate-speech. "I got the kids back too. Pandora and I broke the baubles and the kids woke up just fine. No memory of what occurred."

He started to work on a bumper sticker with his thumbnail. "I did the maths though. The first kid was attacked the night we got here. Maybe even the very same moment." Once he got the corner of the sticker up, the rest peeled away nicely. "What are the chances? Two alien threats when all I wanted was a lark?" He folded the sticker, sticky side in, and when he couldn't find a bin, he pocketed it.

He stepped back and walked around the Tardis, looking for any other flaws, and when satisfied, he returned to the doors and put one hand against the St. John seal, feeling her slight hum. He turned to leave, then thought of one more thing. "And what's with Pandora added to your translation matrix? Was that just a gift for me? Or is that more pressure to bring her to you and show her the universe? You know, I was of half a mind to send her back home just to spite you for the assumption."

He turned away, taking several steps back toward his new home underground, but then he turned back. He pointed an accusing finger at the Tardis. "She is not my companion. We do not go on adventures through space and time. We aren't fixing the universe together. She's just... She's just somebody I hang out with. Here. On Earth. She's a friend."

He turned and walked away again, then stopped and turned to say something again, but seemed to dismiss it. He turned away one last time, less quickly, less angrily, more sadly, and left.


End file.
